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1898 


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BV  4805  .A4  1898 

Aids  to  the  devout  life 


AIDS  TO 
THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 


"aids  to 
the  devout  life 


'THE  PILGRIM'S  PROGRESS' 

THE  IMITATION  OF  CHRIST 

'HOLY  LIVING  AND  DYING' 

BROWNING'S 'SAUL' 

'THE  CHRISTIAN  YEAR' 


REPRINTED    FROM    "THE    OUTLOOK  ' 


NEW  YORK 

LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO. 

LONDON   AND   BOMBAY 
1898 


Copyright,  1897,  by 
THE  OUTLOOK  COMPANY 

Copyright,  1898,  by 
LONGMANS,  GREEN,  AND  CO. 


All  rights  reserved 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Co. 
Astor  Place,  New  York 


CONTENTS 


"THE  PILGRIM'S  PROGRESS"  AND  THE 
LIFE  DIVINE  .J I 

By  the  Rev.  John  Brown,  D.D. 

Minister  of  the   Bunyan   Church,  Bedford, 
England 

"THE  IMITATION  OF  CHRIST"      .         .       13 

V 
By  THE  Right  Rev.  F.  D.  Huntington,  D.D. 

Bishop  of  Central  New  York 

THE  "HOLY  LIVING  AND  DYING"        .       29 
By  Amory  H.  Bradford,  D.D. 

BROWNING'S  "SAUL"        ....       45 
By  Hamilton  W.  Mabie 


KEBLE'S  "  CHRISTIAN  YEAR "         .         .       57 
By  Henry  Van  Dyke,  D.D. 


i 


AIDS  TO  THE   DEVOUT   LIFE 


I 

''THE      PILGRIM'S     PROGRESS" 
AND    THE    LIFE   DIVINE 

By  the  Rev.  John  Brown,  D.D. 

Minister  of  the  Bunyan  Church,  Bedford,  England 

The  literary  charm  of  Bunyan 's  Pil- 
grim story  has  been  long  and  widely 
recognized.  But  its  literary  charm  is  far 
from  being  the  whole  secret  of  its  mar- 
vellous power.  This  comes  rather  from 
the  almost  perfect  union  of  exquisite  lit- 
erary form  with  the  profoundest  insight 
into  and  experience  of  the  life  of  God  in 
the  soul.  Though  written  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  it  is  majestical  with  the 


2  AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

prose  of  the  sixteenth,  and  in  the  mag- 
nificent English  of  that  golden  age  it 
holds  up  to  view  the  great  future  in  store 
for  humanity,  the  glorious  possibilities 
which  are  the  birthright  of  every  human 
soul,  and  the  right  of  every  human  spirit 
to  rise  to  the  full  possession  of  its  high 
and  heaven-born  powers.  It  has  been 
truly  said  that  Bunyan  is  the  only  writer 
of  his  time — Puritan  or  otherwise — who 
was  filled  with  the  very  same  spirit  that 
stirred  the  Elizabethan  poets.  The  spirit 
of  Ben  Jonson  and  his  comrades  had 
passed  into  the  Bedford  Tinker.  Their 
genius  had  become  his.  Their  luxuri- 
ant imagination,  their  versatility,  their 
gaiety,  their  strong  dramatic  instincts, 
even  their  buoyancy  and  abando7t,  had  all 
revived.  But  they  had  revived  in  a  re- 
ligious form.  They  are  all  to  be  found 
in  "  The  Pilgrim's  Progress."  No  writer 
of  the  time  had  so  much  of  the  humour, 
the  gladness,  the  wild,  unrestrained  im- 
agination, and  even  the  dramatic  genius 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE  3 

of  which  Puritanism  was  so  jealous;  and 
yet  no  man  among  the  Puritans  had  more 
of  that  subHme  earnestness,  that  pro- 
found rehgiousness,  that  massive  gran- 
deur of  faith,  which  was  the  very  soul  of 
Puritanism.  Bunyan's  book  was  born 
out  of  Bunyan's  own  heart,  out  of  his 
burning  experience  of  eternal  things. 
This  is  why  it  goes  so  straight  to  the 
hearts  of  his  readers.  As  of  that  other 
prison  book  of  his,  the  "  Grace  Abound- 
ing," he  could  say,  **  I  have  sent  you 
here  inclosed  a  drop  of  that  honey  I  have 
taken  out  of  the  carcass  of  a  lion.  It  is 
a  relation  of  the  work  of  God  upon  my 
own  soul,  wherein  you  may  perceive  my 
castings  down  and  risings  up ;  for  He 
woundeth  and  His  hands  make  whole. 
Yea,  it  was  for  this  reason  I  lay  so  long 
at  Sinai  to  see  the  fire  and  the  cloud  and 
the  darkness,  that  I  might  fear  the  Lord 
all  the  days  of  my  life,  and  tell  of  His 
wondrous  works  to  my  children."  The 
innermost  secret  of  life  is  the  impenetra- 


4  AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

ble  mystery  of  life,  but  in  these  words  we 
come  as  near  the  solution  of  the  mystery 
as  we  ever  shall  in  this  world.  Life  only 
can  beget  life,  and  a  living  book  can  come 
only  out  of  a  living  soul. 

If  one  may  make  formal  division  of 
a  dream-story  which  is  one  indivisible 
whole,  we  may  say  that  "  The  Pilgrim's 
Progress"  first  makes  vivid  to  us  the 
way  in  which  many  a  man  makes  the 
great  transition  from  death  to  life;  and 
then,  when  thus  born  from  above,  what 
are  his  spiritual  experiences  and  conflicts, 
his  joys  and  sorrows,  as  he  fares  forward 
through  storm  and  sunshine  to  the  City 
of  God  ?  Thus  the  most  sacred  and  most 
inward  things  of  the  Spirit  are  made 
concrete  for  us,  and  seem  to  move  before 
us  along  the  plain,  broad  highway  of  life 
in  forms  friendly  and  familiar.  The 
book  brings  home  to  us  divine  certain- 
ties, and  shows  how  man,  the  plainest 
and  the  humblest,  can  fling  himself  forth 
upon   the  unseen  and,  in  the  darkness 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE  5 

where  sense  avails  no  longer,  can  touch 
One  who  is  a  real  person  like  himself, 
and  can  exchange  personal  confidences 
and  affections  with  Him.  It  seems  to 
put  to  the  test  of  blessed  experience  the 
oneness  of  personal  life  between  God 
and  man,  and  the  possibility  of  direct 
relationship  between  creature  and  Crea- 
tor. 

"  The  Pilgrim's  Progress  ''  is  an  **  Aid 
to  the  Devout  Life  "  by  showing  us  how 
real  may  be  the  growth  of  that  life  from 
stage  to  stage ;  how  the  man  who  steps 
before  us  at  first,  all  scared  and  trembling 
at  the  vision  of  eternal  things,  may  by 
and  by  come  to  live  in  their  very  midst 
with  calm  delight  and  with  growing  ad- 
miration, faith,  and  love.  As  we  read 
we  catch  the  contagion  of  the  great  hope 
by  which  the  Pilgrim  is  ever  animated  as 
he  urges  his  way  to  the  City  where  he  is 
to  be  crowned  with  life.  At  the  same 
time  we  are  never  suffered  to  lose  our- 
selves in  the  cloudland  of    mere  vague 


6  AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

emotion.  We  are  made  to  feel  that  life, 
with  its  solemn  responsibilities,  is  too 
stern  and  real  for  that,  and  its  pathway 
of  temptation  too  perilous.  The  most 
watchful  and  wary  walking  at  every  step 
of  the  journey  is  lovingly  urged  upon  us, 
and  the  most  tender  and  anxious  regard 
to  the  voice  of  conscience  enjoined  all 
the  way.  Words  which  Bunyan  wrote 
in  another  of  his  books  might  be  taken 
as  the  motto  for  this :  **  Wouldst  thou  be 
faithful  to  do  that  work  which  God  hath 
appointed  thee  to  do  in  this  world  for 
His  name  ?  Then  make  much  of  a 
trembling  heart  and  conscience;  for 
though  the  Word  be  the  line  and  rule 
whereby  we  must  order  and  govern  all 
our  actions,  yet  a  breaking  heart  and  a 
tender  conscience  are  of  absolute  neces- 
sity for  our  so  doing.  A  hard  heart  can 
do  nothing  with  the  Word  of  Jesus  Christ. 
Keep,  then,  thy  conscience  awake  with 
wrath  and  grace,  with  heaven  and  hell; 
but   let  grace   and  heaven  bear  sway.'" 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE.  7 

Place  side  by  side  with  this  admonition 
the  sight  of  the  man,  spent  and  breath- 
less, whom  Christian  saw  in  the  Iron 
Cage,  and  listen  to  the  heart-break  of 
these  words  of  his:  "  Once  I  was,  as  I 
thought,  fair  for  the  Celestial  City,  and 
had  even  joy  at  the  thought  that  I  should 
get  thither." 

"  But  how  camest  thou  in  this  condi- 
tion ? " 

"  I  left  off  to  watch  and  be  sober;  I 
have  grieved  the  Spirit,  and  He  is  gone." 

Then,  too,  Bunyan  reminds  us  that  we 
must  not  only  watch  unto  prayer  in  great 
hours  of  temptation  and  in  the  great 
crises  of  life,  but  also  all  along  the  line 
and  right  on  to  the  end.  Here  is  marvel- 
lous wisdom  :  '  *  By  this  time  they  were  got 
to  the  Enchanted  Ground,  where  the  air 
naturally  tendeth  to  make  one  drowsy. 
This  Enchanted  Ground  is  one  of  the 
last  refuges  that  the  enemy  to  Pilgrims 
has;  wherefore  it  is,  as  you  see,  placed 
almost  at  the  end  of  the  way,  and  so  it 


8  AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

standeth  against  us  with  the  more  advan- 
tage. For  when,  thinks  the  enemy,  will 
these  fools  be  so  desirous  to  sit  down,  as 
when  they  are  weary ;  and  when  so  like 
for  to  be  weary,  as  when  almost  at  their 
journey's  end  ? " 

The  first  stage  of  the  pilgrimage  may 
be  said  to  end  at  the  point  where  the 
pilgrim's  burden  falls  from  him  into  the 
sepulchre,  at  which  he  looks  and  won- 
ders, even  till  the  springs  that  were  in 
his  head  sent  the  waters  down  his  cheeks, 
and  so  he  passes  out  of  fear  into  love, 
and  enters  a  new  world  where  new  expe- 
riences await  him.  Putting  the  matter 
briefly,  the  book  shows  that  the  battle 
of  life  takes  a  threefold  form :  First  there 
is  the  spiritual  conjiict.  In  the  Valley  of 
Humiliation  Christian  meets  Apollyon 
face  to  face,  and  has  to  fight  with  him 
for  dear  life,  during  which  not  so  much 
as  one  pleasant  look  did  he  give,  and  not 
till  the  two-edged  sword  had  done  its 
work    did    he    smile    and    look    upward. 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE  9 

Then,  again,  not  long  has  he  passed  out 
of  this  valley  when  he  enters  that  of  the 
Shadow  of  Death,  where  weird  shapes 
surround  him  and  doleful  voices  fill  his 
ears.  These  two  experiences  may  be 
taken  as  belonging  to  that  region  of  the 
inward  life  haunted  by  doubts  as  to  the 
truth,  and  harassed  by  fears  as  to  what 
may  be  the  final  outcome  of  life.  Paul 
went  through  this  valley:  "  Our  flesh  had 
no  rest,  we  were  troubled  on  every  side ; 
without  were  fightings,  within  were 
fears."  Then,  besides  this  inward  con- 
flict, there  is  the  conflict  with  the  outside 
world.  The  way  to  the  City  lies  through 
Vanity  Fair,  which  was  much  accounted 
of  by  some  people,  and  where  were  ex- 
posed for  sale  houses,  lands,  kingdoms, 
honors,  pleasures,  sins,  lives,  souls  and 
bodies  of  men.  It  was  fitting  that  soon 
after  going  through  this  the  travellers 
should  meet  with  By-ends  with  his 
fleshly  wisdom,  his  worldly  policy,  his 
habit  of  never  going  against   wind   and 


10        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

tide,  and  his  preference  for  religion  when 
she  goes  in  silver  slippers,  walking  in  the 
sunshine  and  applauded  of  the  people. 
Parting  with  this  * '  subtle  evasive  knave, 
they  find  it  no  great  way  to  the  silver- 
mine  near  which  stood,  and  still  stands, 
Demas  (gentlemanlike),  calling  to  the 
passer-by  to  come  and  see.  Wiser  than 
many,  one  of  the  pilgrims  said  to  the 
other,  "  Let  us  not  stir  a  step,  but  still 
keep  on  our  way."  Finally,  there  is  not 
only  the  battle  to  be  fought  with  inward 
spiritual  foes  and  with  an  unfriendly 
outside  world,  but  the  Pilgrim  story  re- 
minds us  also  we  must  maintain  unceas- 
ing conflict  with  the  flesh.  We  have  to 
guard  against  that  softness  and  love  of 
ease  so  seductive,  and  also  so  destructive 
to  what  is  finest  and  noblest  in  the  spirit. 
We  have  to  learn  that  though  By-path 
Meadow  be  easier  to  feet  that  are  tender 
by  reason  of  their  travels,  and  is  pleas- 
anter  going  than  along  the  rough,  stern 
road  of  duty,   '*  who  seek  to  please  the 


AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE        ii 

flesh  themselves  undo,"  and  sooner  or 
later  find  their  way  into  the  dark  dun- 
geons of  Doubting  Castle  and  know  what 
it  is  to  be  in  the  grim  grasp  of  Giant 
Despair.  There  is  love  as  well  as  wisdom 
in  the  fact  that  the  delicate  plain  called 
Ease,  though  travelled  with  much  con- 
tent, is  yet  but  narrow  and  quickly  got 
over. 

But  while  we  are  called  to  a  higher  life 
than  that  of  stagnant  rest,  all  along  the 
road  there  is  refreshment  provided  by 
the  Lord  of  the  way.  The  road  runs 
sometimes  by  the  side  of  the  River  of 
the  Water  of  Life,  on  either  side  of 
which  is  a  meadow  curiously  beautified 
with  lilies  green  all  the  year  long,  and 
wherein  we  may  lie  down  safely.  The 
Pilgrim  is  sometimes  housed  in  the 
stately  palace,  the  name  of  which  was 
Beautiful,  where  at  nightfall  he  is  lodged 
in  the  large  upper  chamber  called  Peace, 
the  window  of  which  opens  towards  the 
Sun-rising.     He  has  his  Golden  Hours, 


12        AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

and  though  they  come  but  seldom,  In 
them  he  finds  those  things  vanquished 
which  at  other  times  were  his  perplexity. 
Towards  the  end  of  the  journey  he  en- 
ters the  country  of  Beulah,  whose  air 
is  very  sweet  and  pleasant,  where  the 
singing  of  birds  is  heard,  and  the  flowers 
appear,  and  the  Shining  Ones  come  and 
go,  for  it  is  on  the  borders  of  Heaven. 
Finally,  when  toils  and  travel  are  passed, 
and  the  river  is  crossed,  the  Pilgrims  en- 
ter in  at  the  Gate,  and,  lo !  as  they  enter, 
they  are  transfigured,  and  have  raiment 
put  on  that  shines  like  gold,  and  all  the 
bells  in  the  City  ring  again  for  joy. 
"  Now  just  as  the  gates  were  opened  to 
let  in  the  men,  I  looked  in  after  them ; 
and,  behold,  the  City  shone  like  the  sun, 
the  streets  also  were  paved  with  gold, 
and  in  them  walked  many  men  with 
crowns  on  their  heads,  palms  in  their 
hands,  and  golden  harps  to  sing  praises 
withal.  .  .  .  Which  when  I  had  seen  I 
wished  myself  among  them." 


II 

"THE    IMITATION    OF   CHRIST" 

By  the  Right    Rev.  Frederic  D.  Huntington, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  L.H.D. 

Bishop  of  Central  New  York 

Neither  superstition  nor  ecclesiastical 
politics,  in  that  period  when  they  most 
misrepresented  the  Christianity  of  the 
New  Testament,  hid  the  Face  of  Christ. 
Even  when  the  darkness  comprehended 
it  not  the  Light  shined  on,  and  saintly 
hearts  rejoiced  in  it.  The  facts  of  his- 
tory, no  less  clearly  than  inspired  proph- 
ets and  the  testimony  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  consciousness  of  believers,  have  dem- 
onstrated that,  in  the  divine  purpose 
and  the  everlasting  order,  the  Person 
Jesus  could  no  more  disappear  from  the 
spiritual  universe  after  his  manifestation 
13 


14        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

than  the  solar  system  in  nature  could 
survive  without  the  sun.  His  own 
words,  given  by  St.  John,  form  the  first 
sentence  of  the  first  chapter  of  the  **  Im- 
itation," **  He  that  followeth  me  shall 
not  walk  in  darkness." 

In  the  domain  of  personal  piety  the 
strength  was  more  and  more  with  the 
Mystics,  both  before  and  some  time  after 
the  Continental  Reformation.  But  the 
genius  and  the  passion  for  organization, 
naturally  taking  shape  in  political  de- 
vices, and  rioening  and  over-ripening  in 
the  hierarchy,  absorbed,  in  the  West, 
even  more  ambitiously  than  in  the  East, 
intellectual  ability  and  activity.  Monas- 
tic orders  and  institutions  must  be  gov- 
ernments. Powers  of  administration 
were  united  with  devotional  self-disci- 
pline. Spiritual  masters,  Anselm,  Ger- 
son,  and  Bernard,  were  known  and  con- 
sulted in  the  councils  of  statesmen  and 
princes.  They  recognized  Christ  as 
King,  while  they  adored  him  as  Saviour 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         15 

and  besought  his  pardon  for  their  sins. 
There  was  a  twofold  development  in  re- 
ligion. The  idea  of  Christ's  kingdom 
would  have  degenerated  into  a  secular 
and  semi-idolatrous  loyalty  to  a  cap- 
taincy among  courts  and  armies,  but  for 
the  prayers,  penitence,  and  meditations 
of  men  and  women  who  knew  the  Christ 
formed  within  them  the  Hope  of  glory 
hereafter. 

If  the  discussion  of  the  authorship  of 
the  great  treatise  before  us  appears,  in 
its  literary  interest,  to  be  somewhat  more 
voluminous  than  was  necessary,  it  is, 
nevertheless,  one  of  many  certificates  to 
the  high  and  wide  eminence  it  has  held, 
and  must  continue  to  hold,  among  books. 
Why  the  circumstance  that  Thomas 
Hemercker,  born  at  Kempen  near  the 
close  of  the  fourteenth  century,  and 
professed  at  the  Monastery  of  Mount  St. 
Agnes  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  a  pious 
transcriber  of  sacred  writings,  appended 
to  his  folio  copy  of  the  Bible  and  to  this 


i6        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

work  the  same  note, /^r  manus  fratris 
Thomce  Keinpis,  should  have  sent  abroad 
all  over  Europe  the  notion  that  he  pro- 
duced the  one  any  more  than  the  other, 
is  not  clear. 

A  prevalent  belief  that  the  author  was 
John  Gerson,  a  contemporary  of  Hem- 
ercker,  Chancellor  of  the  University  of 
Paris,  rests,  in  the  judgment  of  Dean 
Milman  and  others,  on  no  stronger 
ground.  A  family  of  Defenders  of  the 
Church,  afterwards  bearing  the  title  De 
Avocatis,  distinguished  also  by  scientific 
and  episcopal  honours,  was  known  by 
documentary  proofs,  especially  by  a 
diary  of  Count  Gustavus,  to  have  been 
in  possession  of  a  manuscript  of  the 
"Imitation"  some  time,  probably  for 
several  generations,  before  the  middle 
of  the  fourteenth  century.  Gerson  died 
1429.  Autograph  inscriptions  were  dis- 
covered in  Paris  in  a  wooden-bound  edi- 
tion of  the  '*  Imitation,"  by  one  of  the 
De  Avocatis.     The  Gerson    in  question 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         17 

seems  to  have  been  one  Abbot  John, 
a  Benedictine  of  Vercelli.  Further  tra- 
ditions are  obscure.^ 

From  what  is  known,  and  all  that  can 
reasonably  be  conjectured,  it  may  be  con- 
cluded to  have  pleased  God  in  his  Provi- 
dence that  the  most  widely  read  and 
highly  valued  uninspired  composition  of 
all  the  ages  should  proceed  from  a  mind 
and  heart  not  named  with  any  certainty 
during  the  last  five  hundred  years.  Not 
a  few  of  the  indisputable  messages  of  the 
Eternal  Father  to  his  children,  some  of 
them  in  the  Scriptures,  which  in  their 
substance,  origin,  and  history  are  pre- 
eminently his  word,  have  been  anony- 
mous, save  as  they  carried  with  them  the 

I  It  has  not  become  known  universally,  even 
among  contemporary  readers  of  the  "  Imitation,"  that 
a  versified  or  rhythmic  version  was  published  a  few 
years  since,  wuth  a  preface  by  Canon  Liddon,  on  the 
theory  that  the  rhythm  was  originally  intended,  the 
English  being  from  the  Latin  version,  by  Hirscher,  at 
Berlin.  The  theory  is  favored  by  the  old  title  ' '  Ec- 
clesiastica  Musica." 
2 


1 8        AIDS   TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

Name  that  is  above  every  name.  The 
voice  is  rather  the  more  august  in  solem- 
nity and  more  impressive  to  reverent  feel- 
ing as  coming  out  of  the  impersonal  wis- 
dom, of  which  we  are  sure  only  by  its 
burden  of  meaning  that  it  is  "  from  on 
high."  That  was  felt  by  this  very  inter- 
preter of  divine  mysteries,  who  writes,  in 
his  chapter  on  **  The  Reading  of  Holy 
Scripture,"  "  Search  not  who  spoke  this 
or  that,  but  attend  to  what  is  spoken," 
as  if  to  undesignedly  sanction  the  secret 
in  which  his  own  power  is  concealed. 

A  question  arises  as  respects  the  title 
of  this  marvellous  creation,  a  question 
not  only  pertaining  to  language,  but 
reaching  into  the  region  of  spiritual  laws. 
That  the  reproduction  of  the  life  of  Jesus 
Christ  in  all  his  followers  is  to  be  the 
purpose  and  aim  of  every  one  of  them, 
and  that  in  some  finite  measure  it  is  pos- 
sible, there  can  be  no  doubt.  We  hear 
it  on  his  own  affirmation,  and  in  all  the 
teaching  of  his  Church.      But  is  the  re- 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         19 

production  to  be  by  imitatio7i  ?  Is  it  the 
way  of  resemblance,  or  by  a  birth  of 
grace  ?  by  copy,  or  by  regeneration  ?  In 
the  process  of  imitation,  in  art,  the 
"  original  "  stands  off  from  the  copy,  and 
a  likeness  is  produced  by  conscious  and 
voluntary  effort  on  the  artist's  part.  An 
identity  of  nature  and  life  can  there 
hardly  be  predicated.  Form,  colour, 
mode,  may  be  represented,  but,  however 
strict  or  successful  the  similitude  may 
be,  the  objective  reality  is  not  found  in 
the  productive  operation.  Is  a  Christian 
character  created  in  that  way  ?  Is  the 
loftiest  and  purest  style  of  Christian  liv- 
ing so  brought  into  being,  as  it  were  ab 
extra  ?  Can  character  be  said  to  be  an 
operation  at  all  ?  Is  it  not  a  moral 
growth  from  a  vital  germ,  nurtured 
through  the  inwrought  action  of  a  con- 
scientious will  under  the  "  means  of 
grace"  ?  In  ordinary  affairs  the  term 
"  imitation"  is  derogatory.  If  it  loses 
that  quality  in   things   spiritual,  it  must 


20        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

be  because  the  pattern  or  model  imitated 
is  perfect  and  divine. 

Distinct  from  this  consideration  is  that 
of  the  possible  imitableness  of  the  Infinite 
One.  Though  the  expression  "  follow- 
ers of  God  "  is  Scriptural,  yet  Christian 
literature  betrays  something  like  a  sense 
of  unfitness,  to  say  the  least,  in  demand- 
ing an  imitation  of  God  the  Father. 
Logically  this  point  touches  metaphysi- 
cal and  theological  problems  of  the  di- 
vine personality  and  the  Trinity.  May 
it  not  be  that  a  somewhat  modified  doc- 
trine of  the  divine  immanence  has  affected 
also  the  prevailing  conception  of  the 
manner  in  which  the  Christian  life  is  re- 
lated to  its  Source,  and  the  disciple  to 
the  Saviour,  and  the  Church  to  its  Head  ? 
A  pantheism  that  abolishes  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  nature  of  God  and  the 
nature  of  man  will  necessarily  modify  all 
exhortations  to  pattern  our  lives  after 
the  example  of  Christ. 

Neither  of  these  queries,  it  is  evident. 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         21 

perplexed  the  mind  of  the  devotee  who 
sat  humbly  at  his  Master's  feet,  looked 
with  penetrating  and  unclouded  vision 
into  the  revelation  of  his  countenance, 
and  drank  deep  draughts  of  his  Spirit. 
Here  and  there  a  difference  might  be 
traced  between  the  type  of  theology  re- 
flected on  his  pages  and  that  which  char- 
acterizes present  Confessions  of  Faith, 
Protestant  or  Nicene.  The  most  scrupu- 
lous ultra-Protestant  must  acknowledge 
that  here  a  cloistered  monk,  living,  think- 
ing, writing,  and  daily  worshipping  in  all 
the  surroundings  of  conventual  asceti- 
cism, when  papal  authority  was  least  in 
dispute,  when  ritual  regularity  and  ritual 
splendour  held  unresisted  sway,  dealing 
freely  and  most  earnestly  with  all  the 
details  of  the  soul's  inner  and  outer  in- 
tercourse with  Heaven,  scarcely  turns  his 
eyes  from  the  single  glory  of  his  Lord, 
or  from  the  inward  righteousness  with 
which  He  clothes  His  saints;  rarely  men- 
tions religion  as  a  public  ceremonial,  and 


22        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

seldom  insists  on  sacramental  offices  more 
explicitly  than  would  many  a  reverent 
anti-Romanist  in  Germany,  England,  or 
the  United  States.  No  more  thoroughly 
practical  manual  of  Christian  duty  can 
be  found  in  any  tongue.  Nor,  on  the 
other  hand,  may  it  be  denied  that  to 
our  own  time  the  loyal  leaders  of  the 
Roman  obedience  keep  this  volume  in 
the  foremost  list  of  its  guides  to  piety 
and  virtue,  placing  it  in  the  hands  of 
catechumens  and  scholars,  servants,  ar- 
tisans, all  classes,  in  all  conditions.  It 
is  as  dear  to  the  better  New  England 
Unitarians  as  to  the  best  Irish  priest.  It 
is  more  Catholic  than  the  Vatican,  and 
more  exacting  of  holiness  than  the  Ul- 
tramontanes,  and  a  good  deal  more  ab- 
stinent from  the  world  than  the  Jesuits. 
It  is  counted  as  worthy  to  stand  on  a 
Cardinal's  book-shelf  as  any  volume  of 
St.  Augustine,  F^nelon,  or  St.  Francis; 
as  fit  for  a  Presbyterian's  or  Methodist's 
parsonage  as  "  The  Saint's  Rest,"  the 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         23 

Holv  Living  and  Dving."  or  the  "  Pil- 
grim's  Progress."  Frederick  Denison 
Maurice  praised  it  as  highly  as  Dr.  Pusey. 

On  the  score  of  its  other-worldliness 
and  individual  self-absorption  modem 
critics  have  based  their  chief  complaints. 
Unexpectedly  we  find  in  Dean  Milman 
alone,  with  qualified  commendations,  a 
censorship  amounting  to  bitterness. 
Here  is  only  a  section  of  his  arraign- 
ment: *'  The  Imitation  of  Christ  begins 
in  self,  terminates  in  self.  The  simple 
sentence,  '  He  went  about  doing  good,' 
is  wanting  in  the  monastic  Gospel  of  this 
pious  zealot.  Of  feeding  the  hungry,  of 
clothing  the  naked,  of  visiting  the  pris- 
oner, even  of  preaching,  there  is  pro- 
found, total  silence.  That  which  distin- 
guishes Christ — Christ's  religion — the 
love  of  man,  is  entirely  and  absolutely 
left  out.  Had  this  been  the  whole  of 
Christianity,  our  Lord  himself,  with  rev- 
erence be  it  said,  would  have  lived  like 
an  Essene,  working  out  or  displaying  his 


24        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

own  sinless  perfection  by  the  Dead  Sea, 
neither  on  the  Mount,  nor  in  the  Temple, 
nor  even  at  the  Cross.  Christianity  had 
been  without  any  exquisite  precept  for 
the  purity,  the  happiness  of  social  or 
domestic  life,  without  self-sacrifice  for 
the  good  of  others,  without  the  higher 
Christian  patriotism,  devotion  on  evan- 
gelic principles  to  the  public  need ;  with- 
out even  the  devotion  of  the  missionary 
to  the  dissemination  of  Gospel  truth; 
without  the  humbler  and  gentler  daily 
self-sacrifice  for  relatives,  for  the  wife, 
the  parent,  the  child.  Christianity  had 
never  soared  to  be  the  civilizer  of  the 
world.  *  Let  the  world  perish,  so  the 
single  soul  can  escape  on  its  solitary 
plank  from  the  general  wreck ; '  such  had 
been  its  final  axiom." 

With  a  more  carefully  balanced  judg- 
ment, the  historian  of  the  papal  schism 
might  have  pronounced  a  sentence  less 
derogatory  but  more  judicial,  and  in  bet- 
ter accordance  with  the  verdict  of  four- 


AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE         25 

teen  generations.  Had  the  unknown 
author's  design  been  to  present  an  epit- 
ome or  a  transcript  of  the  Christian 
Revelation,  the  critique  might  have  been 
as  fair  as  it  actually  is  acrid.  Surely  it 
has  not  been  held  as  an  offence  to  truth, 
in  sacred  letters,  within  the  Bible  or 
without,  to  set  before  the  world  a  por- 
tion of  the  comprehensive  whole  without 
a  pretension  to  completeness.  In  every 
department  of  that  literature  are  there 
not  productions  of  genius,  learning,  and 
profound  contemplation,  and  most  nutri- 
tious food  for  the  soul,  which  yet  offer 
no  claim  to  exhibit  every  aspect  or  every 
element  of  the  will  of  God  or  of  the 
duty  of  man  ?  How  would  the  **  preach- 
ing "  of  the  Dean's  day  bear  the  test  he 
applies  ?  Right  and  reasonable  indeed 
is  the  demand  upon  press  and  pulpit  for 
a  braver  and  heartier  prophesying  of  the 
brotherhood  of  man,  of  the  coming  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  on  the  earth  and 
not   only  in  the  sky,  of  the  healing  of 


26        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

human  disorder,  the  purifying  of  poHti- 
cal  corruption,  civic  virtue,  the  sanctity 
of  wedlock,  the  overthrow  of  industrial, 
commercial,  and  financial  oppressions, 
the  reconciling  of  classes,  the  enfran- 
chisement of  labor,  the  atonement  be- 
tween man  and  man  as  part  and  parcel 
of  the  atonement  of  the  children  with 
the  Father.  In  which  of  the  three  great 
ecclesiastical  parties  of  the  Dean's  Estab- 
lishment, in  how  many  of  the  popular 
pulpits  of  modern  **  civilization,"  is  this 
half  of  the  everlasting  Gospel  so  deliv- 
ered as  to  be  understood,  or  so  that  ty- 
rants tremble,  and  justice  is  either  hon- 
ored or  feared,  or  wicked  wealth  is  made 
to  feel  its  curse  ?  Notwithstanding,  at 
this  very  time,  in  the  face  of  all  the 
moral  abuses  and  neglects,  we  venture  a 
confession  of  belief  that  in  our  popular 
Christianity  the  need  of  a  deeper  and 
more  firmly  spoken  spirituality  is  as  ur- 
gent and  as  widespread  as  the  need  of 
any  social  reform.       In  the  vibration  of 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         27 

persistent  forces,  in  religion  as  elsewhere, 
opposite  tendencies  seem  to  limit  and 
check  one  another.  Five  centuries  ago 
the  modern  reaction  from  supernatu- 
ralism  had  hardly  begun.  At  this  mo- 
ment a  good  strong  infusion  of  that 
other-worldliness  into  the  secularism,  ra- 
tionalism, and  materialism  of  a  thousand 
sermons  and  Sunday  lectures  every  year 
would  do  no  harm.  This  ought  ye  to 
have  done,  and  not  to  leave  the  other 
undone.  Humanity  still  depends  upon 
Heaven ;  men  upon  their  Maker  and 
Saviour;  the  seen,  which  now  is,  upon 
the  unseen,  which  abides  forever. 

Whoever  studies  searchingly  the  "  Im- 
itation "  will  find  few  pages  which  do  not 
direct  the  student  to  the  fountains  of 
living  water  for  the  ethical  no  less  than 
the  devotional  reformation  of  mankind. 
That  will  be  a  distant  age  of  "  civiliza- 
tion," philanthropy,  good  government, 
and  social  order,  where  these  stern  les- 
sons of  humility,  self-sacrifice,  chastity, 


28         AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

the  solemn  overshadowing  of  an  unseen 
world,  the  sanctities  of  prayer,  the  gra- 
cious nearness  of  "  angels  and  archangels 
and  all  the  company  of  heaven,"  will  not 
be  needed  to  yield  their  fruit  in  the  lives 
of  the  people,  and  where  the  **  Christ 
formed  within"  will  not  be  the  only 
power  to  fashion  the  lives  of  rich  and 
poor,  rulers  and  subjects,  young  men 
and  maidens,  men  of  action  and  men  of 
thought,  into  His  likeness. 


Ill 

THE     "  HOLY    LIVING     AND 
DYING" 

By  Amory  H.  Bradford,  D.D. 

With  most  readers  of  devotional  liter- 
ature **  Holy  Living  and  Dying"  occu- 
pies a  place  next  to  "  The  Imitation  of 
Christ."  It  differs  from  that  immortal 
work  in  that  its  author  is  well  known, 
and  also  in  the  fact  that,  while  one 
smells  of  the  cloister  and  the  monastic 
cell,  the  other  breathes  the  air  of  action 
and  suggests  contact  with  life  and  soci- 
ety. Jeremy  Taylor,  perhaps  the  great- 
est preacher  that  the  Anglican  Commu- 
nion has  ever  produced,  was  the  son  of 
a  barber  in  the  university  city  of  Cam- 
bridge, England.  He  was  born  in  1613 
29 


30        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

and  died  in  1667.  He  was  a  compeer 
of  John  Howe  and  John  Milton,  and  a 
partisan  on  the  side  of  royalty,  as  they 
were  on  the  side  of  Cromwell  and  the 
Commonwealth.  Like  them  he  suffered 
for  his  faith,  although  he  seldom,  if 
ever,  endured  persecution.  His  marvel- 
lous abilities  received  scant  recognition  in 
his  Church.  He  was  Bishop  of  Down 
and  Connor,  and  later  of  Dromore,  but 
these  were  relatively  obscure  positions. 
He  was  pre-eminently  a  preacher,  and 
his  sermons  have  an  enduring  place  in 
literature.  Concerning  his  genius  as  an 
author.  Lord  Jeffrey,  in  his  Essay  on  the 
Dramatic  Works  of  John  Ford,  uses 
this  strong  language:  "  Without  going 
to  those  who  composed  in  metre,  and 
chiefly  for  purposes  of  delight,  we  will 
venture  to  assert  that  there  is  in  any  one 
of  the  prose  folios  of  Jeremy  Taylor 
more  fine  fancy  and  original  imagery, 
more  brilliant  conceptions  and  glowing 
expressions,   more  new  figures  and  new 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         31 

applications  of  old  figures,  more,  in 
short,  of  the  body  and  the  soul  of  po- 
etry, than  in  all  the  odes  and  the  epics 
that  have  since  been  produced  in  Eu- 
rope." The  work  which  is  his  chief 
title  to  fame  is  "  Holy  Living  and  Dy- 
ing. *  *  The  circumstances  under  which  it 
was  written  are  clearly  indicated  in  the 
first  words  of  the  Dedication  of  the  first 
part:  "  I  have  lived  to  see  religion 
painted  upon  banners  and  thrust  out  of 
churches;  and  the  temple  turned  into 
a  tabernacle,  and  that  tabernacle  made 
ambulatory,  and  covered  with  skins  of 
beasts  and  torn  curtains."  Thus  he  de- 
scribed the  state  of  religion  during  the 
struggles  between  the  King  and  Parlia- 
ment in  the  rough  days  of  the  Puritan 
Revolution. 

The  book  contains  two  parts — "  Holy 
Living"  and  "  Holy  Dying. "  "Holy 
Living"  is  divided  into  four  chapters  on 
the  following  subjects:  "  Considerations 
of   the  General  Instruments  and  Means 


32         AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

Serving  to  a  Holy  Life;"  "Christian 
Sobriety;"  '*  Christian  Justice ;"  ''Chris- 
tian Religion."  "Holy  Dying"  con- 
tains five  chapters  with  the  following 
titles:  "  A  General  Preparation  towards 
a  Holy  and  Blessed  Death,  by  Way  of 
Consideration;"  "A  General  Prepara- 
tion towards  a  Holy  Death,  by  Way  of 
Exercise;  "  "  The  State  of  Sickness  and 
the  Temptations  Incident  to  it,  with 
their  Proper  Remedies;  "  "  The  Practice 
of  the  Graces  Proper  to  the  State  of 
Sickness,  which  a  Sick  Man  may  Practice 
Alone;  "  "The  Visitation  of  the  Sick,  or 
the  Assistance  that  is  to  be  done  to  Dy- 
ing Persons  by  the  Ministry  of  the  Cler- 
gy." Each  of  these  chapters  consists  of 
two  parts:  first,  reflections  on  the  gen- 
eral subject;  and  then,  prayers  by  which 
graces  may  be  cultivated  and  temptations 
and  evils  avoided.  The  following  from 
the  Introduction  is  essential  to  an  under- 
standing of  the  book:  "  It  becomes  us 
to  remember  and  to  adore  God's  good- 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         33 

ness  for  it,  that  God  hath  not  only  per- 
mitted us  to  serve  the  necessities  of  our 
nature,  but  hath  made  them  to  become 
parts  of  our  duty.  .  .  .  There  is  not  one 
minute  of  our  lives  (after  we  have  come 
to  the  use  of  reason)  but  we  are  or  may 
be  doing  the  work  of  God,  even  when  we 
most  of  all  serve  ourselves."  With  the 
author,  religion  has  relation  to  all  life.  It 
is  essentially  ethical  and  spiritual.  This 
truth  is  especially  prominent  in  "  Holy 
Living."  A  characteristic  sentence  illus- 
trating his  belief  that  all  spheres  of 
thought  and  action  belong  to  religion  is 
the  following:  '*  In  their  proportions, 
also,  a  king  and  a  priest,  and  a  prophet, 
a  judge,  and  an  advocate,  doing  the 
works  of  their  employment  according  to 
their  proper  rules,  are  doing  the  work  of 
God;  because  they  serve  those  necessi- 
ties which  God  hath  made,  and  yet 
made  no  provision  for  them  but  by  their 
ministry." 

The  spiritual   and  ethical  teaching  of 
3 


34        AIDS   TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

the  book  is  more  fully  illustrated,  the 
one  by  the  chapter  on  "  The  Practice  of 
the  Presence  of  God,"  and  the  other  by 
the  chapter  on  "  Christian  Sobriety." 
The  "practice  of  the  presence  of  God" 
is  the  chief  exercise  in  the  Holy  Living. 
That  phrase,  "  practice  of  the  presence 
of  God,"  is  a  fine  illustration  of  Bishop 
Taylor's  felicity  as  a  writer.  His  image- 
ry is  often  tropical;  his  learning  some- 
times almost  cloys  with  its  richness  and 
abundance;  but  at  all  times  there  is  such 
fitness  in  the  selection  of  words  and 
phrases  as  gives  to  his  most  splendid 
rhetoric  the  force  of  epigrams.  He  who 
catches  that  phrase,  "  the  practice  of 
the  presence  of  God,"  ever  afterwards 
shows  its  influence.  "  The  consequents 
and  effects  of  it  are  universal.  He  that 
remembers  that  God  stands  a  witness 
and  a  judge  beholding  every  secrecy,  be- 
sides his  impiety,  must  have  put  on  im- 
pudence if  he  be  not  much  restrained  in 
his  temptation  to  sin."     Such  sentences 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         35 

as  the  following  cling  to  the  memory 
with  a  force  of  their  own:  "  But  if  you 
will  sin,  retire  yourself  wisely,  and  go 
where  God  cannot  see ;  for  nowhere  else 
can  you  be  safe." 

The  rules  for  realizing  the  divine  pres- 
ence are  not  so  satisfactory  as  might 
be  expected,  probably  because  rules  for 
such  exercises  have  little  value.  Bishop 
Taylor's  suggestions,  in  brief,  are  as  fol- 
lows: (i)  Let  this  actual  thought  often 
return,  that  God  is  omnipresent,  filling 
every  place.  (2)  In  the  beginning  of 
actions  of  religion,  make  an  act  of  ado- 
ration— that  is,  solemnly  worship  God, 
and  place  thyself  in  God's  presence,  and 
behold  him  with  the  eye  of  faith.  (3) 
Let  everything  you  see  represent  to  your 
spirit  the  presence,  the  excellency,  the 
power  of  God.  (4)  In  your  retirement 
make  frequent  colloquies,  or  short  dis- 
coursings,  between  God  and  your  soul. 
(5)  Represent  and  offer  to  God  '*  acts 
of  love  and  fear."     (6)  Remember  that 


36        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

God  is  in  us,  and  that  we  are  in  Him ; 
.  .  .  we  are  in  His  presence,  let  us  not 
pollute  it  by  unholy  and  impure  actions. 
(7)  '*  God  is  in  the  bowels  of  thy 
brother ; ' '  refresh  them  when  he  needs 
it,  and  then  you  give  your  alms  in  the 
presence  of  God  and  to  God.  (8)  God 
is  in  every  place,  therefore  suppose  it  to 
be  a  church.  (9)  God  is  in  every  crea- 
ture; be  cruel  towards  none,  neither 
abuse  any  by  intemperance.  (10)  He 
walks  as  in  the  presence  of  God  who 
converses  with  Him  in  frequent  prayers 
and  frequent  communion;  who  runs  to 
Him  in  all  his  necessities;  who  asks 
counsel  of  Him  in  all  his  doubtings;  who 
opens  all  his  wants  to  Him ;  who  weeps 
before  Him  for  his  sins;  who  asks  rem- 
edy and  support  for  his  weakness ;  who 
fears  Him  as  a  judge,  reverences  Him  as 
a  lord,  obeys  Him  as  a  father,  and  loves 
Him  as  a  patron. 

The   key  to   the  ''  Holy   Living   and 
Dying"  is  the  phrase  *' the  realization 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         37 

of  God."  He  who  realizes  God  will  use 
his  time  aright,  will  have  purity  of  mo- 
tive, will  be  clean  in  thought  and  act,  and 
will  make  his  body  and  mind  fit  to  be 
the  sanctuary  of  the  divine. 

The  thoroughness  of  Brshop  Taylor's 
ethical  teaching  is  illustrated  in  the  pages 
which  treat  of  Chastity  and  Humility. 
What  advice  could  be  wiser  than  this: 
"  If  thou  beest  assaulted  with  an  un- 
clean spirit,  trust  not  thyself  alone,  but 
run  forth  into  company  whose  reverence 
and  modesty  may  suppress,  or  whose 
society  may  divert,  thy  thoughts  "  ? 

The  passage  in  the  section  on  Humil- 
ity which  is  most  practical  and  cuts  deep- 
est is  the  following:  **  Whatsoever  evil 
thou  sayest  of  thyself,  be  content  that 
others  should  think  to  be  true;  and  if 
thou  callest  thyself  fool,  be  not  angry  if 
another  says  so  of  thee.  For  if  thou 
thinkest  so  truly,  all  men  in  the  world 
desire  other  men  to  be  of  their  opinion ; 
and  he  is  a  hypocrite  that  accuses  him- 


38        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

self  before  others  with  an  intent  not  to 
be  believed.  But  he  that  calls  himself 
intemperate,  foolish,  lustful,  and  is  angry 
when  his  neighbors  call  him  so,  is  both 
a  false  and  a  proud  person." 

The  **  Holy  Living"  is  spiritual  but 
not  mystical,  ethical  but  not  impossible. 
It  is  excellent  among  devotional  books 
because  level  to  the  temptations,  the 
trials,  the  aspirations,  and  the  inspira- 
tions of  men  of  every  class,  in  every 
time,  and  of  every  nation.  Rich  in 
learning,  brilliant  and  vivid  in  style,  it  is 
also  epigrammatic  and  sententious.  In 
their  expression  its  profoundest  truths 
are  like  barbed  arrows  which  go  deep 
and  cannot  be  pulled  out. 

The  "  Holy  Dying  "  is  inferior  to  the 
"Holy  Living."  The  two  parts  bear 
much  the  same  relation  to  each  other  as 
"Paradise  Lost"  and  "Paradise  Re- 
gained." Bishop  Taylor  had  long  lived 
in  the  consciousness  that  death  was  near. 
In    the    Introduction    he   speaks  of    his 


AIDS   TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE         39 

own  sorrow,  and  writes  as  one  who  has 
long  looked  into  the  face  of  the  shadow. 
The  ethical  quality  which  was  so  prom- 
inent in  the  first  part  is  equally  promi- 
nent in  the  second.  His  idea  of  prepa- 
ration for  death,  or,  as  he  finely  calls  it, 
**  the  act  of  dying  well,"  is  not  separa- 
tion from  the  world,  but  righteousness 
in  the  world.  "  I  pray  not  that  thou 
shouldest  take  them  out  of  the  world, 
but  that  thou  shouldest  keep  them  from 
the  evil  one."  He  seems  to  have  read 
the  whole  literature  of  death.  Some  of 
his  phrases  startle  with  their  suggestive- 
ness,  as  when  he  says;  "  A  sudden  death 
certainly  loses  the  rewards  of  a  holy 
sickness." 

The  following  remedies  against  the 
fear  of  death  are  suggested :  We  must 
learn  to  despise  the  world;  we  must 
neither  love  anything  passionately,  nor 
be  proud  of  any  circumstances  of  life  ;  we 
must  learn  that  to  fear  death  is  cowardly; 
we  must  remember  that  fear  is  a  cause 


40        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

of  fear;  we  must  be  in  love  with  "  the 
felicities  of  the  saints  and  angels,  and 
seek  to  realize  the  unseen  and  spiritual 
sphere ;  we  must  learn  to  trust  in  God ; 
we  must  never  excuse  ourselves  in  our 
fears."  **  After  all  this  I  do  not  say  it 
is  a  sin  to  be  afraid  of  death.  .  .  .  Our 
blessed  Lord  was  pleased  to  legitimate 
fear  to  us  by  his  agony  and  prayers  in 
the  garden.  It  is  not  a  sin  to  be  afraid, 
but  it  is  a  great  felicity  to  be  without 
fear."  The  best  of  all  remedies  against 
dread  of  death  has  no  place  in  this  cata- 
logue; viz.,  the  sight  of  the  dying  who 
have  fought  a  good  fight  and  kept  the 
faith.  To  look  upon  the  face  of  a  friend 
as  he  goes  away ;  to  be  one  of  a  group 
whose  tears  will  not  cease,  while  the  one 
who  is  dying  is  calm,  confident,  and 
triumphant;  to  listen  to  lasting  good- 
bys  spoken  as  if  only  a  short  and  beau- 
tiful journey  were  ahead;  to  see  pain 
soften  itself  into  peace,  and  a  tired  and 
worn  body  go  to  sleep  like  a  weary  child 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         41 

— that  takes  away  the  dread  of  death  as 
nothing  else  can.  When  a  strong  man 
or  frail  woman  looks  upon  such  a  sight, 
he  feels — Well,  I  too  dare  go  along  the 
pathway  that  has  been  so  light  before 
the  feet  of  the  one  I  love.  It  may 
seem  as  if  meditation  on  death  were  not 
wise,  but  that  is  a  mistake.  Brooding 
over  it  no  doubt  leads  to  fear;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  more  fear  and  suffering 
result  from  the  surprises  of  those  who 
have  been  too  carefully  guarded  from  the 
face  of  the  guest  who  **  knocks  at  the 
palace  and  the  cottage  gate."  We 
should  not  stay  long  in  the  charnel- 
house,  but  it  is  good  now  and  then  to 
look  in,  at  least  often  enough  to  see 
that  it  is  not  always  a  place  of  chills 
and  glooms,  but,  for  many,  a  mansion 
of  peace  and  rest.  Look  upon  the  face 
of  a  good  man  who  is  waving  his  fare- 
well to  the  earth,  and  you  will  under- 
stand that  he  is  embarking  on  no  wild 
sea;  listen  to  the  good-bys  of  those  who 


42        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

have  loved  you,  and  it  will  not  be  so 
hard  to  speak  your  own  when  the  mo- 
ment to  speak  them  comes. 

One  of  the  best  chapters  in  "  Holy 
Dying"  bears  the  somewhat  singular 
title,  "  Advantages  of  Sickness."  The 
thought  needs  emphasis  in  these  days. 
He  says:  **  In  sickness  the  soul  begins 
to  dress  herself  for  immortality.  By 
sickness  the  soul  knocks  off  the  fetters 
of  pride  and  vainer  complacencies ;  then 
she  takes  off  the  roughness  of  her  great 
and  little  angers  and  animosities;  sick- 
ness is  that  agony  in  which  men  are 
tried  for  a  crown ;  sickness  is  often  a 
means  by  which  men  are  made  to  realize 
their  sin  and  thus  are  helped  to  prepare 
for  heaven."  The  modern  notion  that 
all  sickness  is  unmixed  evil  would  have 
found  little  sympathy  with  the  author. 
Sickness  and  suffering  are  the  instru- 
ments by  which  God  accomplishes  His 
purposes  in  and  for  man.  Instruments 
usually  have  no  moral  quality ;  they  are 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         43 

the  means  by  which  blessings  are  com- 
municated. 

The  book  closes  as  follows:  '*  It  re- 
mains that  we  who  are  alive  should  so 
live,  and  by  the  actions  of  religion  attend 
the  coming  of  the  day  of  the  Lord,  that 
we  neither  be  surprised  nor  leave  our  du- 
ties imperfect,  nor  our  sins  uncancelled, 
nor  our  persons  unreconciled,  nor  God 
unappeased ;  but  that,  when  we  descend 
to  our  graves,  we  may  rest  in  the  bosom 
of  the  Lord,  till  the  mansions  be  pre- 
pared where  we  shall  sing  and  feast  eter- 
nally." 

Two  ideas  are  central  in  this  great 
work — "the  art  of  living  well"  and 
"the  art  of  dying  well."  How  may 
these  arts  be  acquired  ?  The  answer  is. 
By  learning  to  realize  the  presence  of 
God.  Those  who  realize  God  are  afraid 
of  nothing  on  the  earth  except  failing  to 
do  His  will,  and  of  nothing  beyond  the 
earth  except  the  hiding  of  His  face. 

Among    devotional   classics    the    first 


44        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

place  belongs  to  "  The  Imitation  of 
Christ;  "  and  the  second  place,  it  seems 
to  me,  with  equal  clearness  belongs  to 
the  "  Holy  Living  and  Dying."  Both 
are  a  part  of  that  larger  Bible  which  is 
the  record  of  the  deepest  experience  of 
the  most  spiritual  and  therefore  the  most 
Christian  souls  of  all  the  ages. 


IV 

BROWNING'S   **SAUL'' 

By  Hamilton  W.  Mabie 

Although  Browning  had  a  strong  dra- 
niatic  impulse  and  put  much  of  his  best 
thought  into  dramatic  form — gave  it,  in 
other  words,  an  objectivity  which  ordi- 
narily makes  a  poem  the  disclosure  of  a 
mood  or  character  separate  and  distinct 
from  the  poet's  mood  and  character — no 
modern  poet  is  more  deeply  and  genu- 
inely religious  than  he.  For  the  relig- 
ious mind,  it  need  hardly  be  said,  is  dis- 
closed, not  in  dogmatic  statements  or  in 
pious  phrases  and  observances,  but  in 
the  constant  and  controlling  perception 
that  all  things  come  from  and  return  to 
God ;  that  Nature  is  not  only  the  work 
45 


46         AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

of  His  hand,  but  the  revelation  of  His 
mind ;  and  that  the  life  of  man,  however 
perverted,  distorted,  and  broken,  is,  at 
its  best,  not  only  normal  and  healthful, 
but  divinely  fashioned  and  ordered. 

There  are  other  conceptions  of  the  re- 
ligious mind  than  this,  and  other  types  of 
the  religious  temper  have  been  illustrated 
by  men  of  noble  character  and  genuine 
religious  insight;  but  the  monastic  or 
ascetic  conception  of  life  involves  a  fatal 
concession  to  the  apparent  moral  disor- 
der in  society;  and  even  a  partialistic 
theology  like  the  older  Calvinism  solves 
the  problem  by  an  immense  surrender 
to  the  power  of  evil.  Such  compromises 
and  concessions  are  impossible  to  minds 
in  which  the  loftiest  spiritual  aspirations 
must  be  matched  by  a  view  of  life  and 
the  world  which  rejects  nothing  and  sur- 
renders nothing  to  anarchy  and  unright- 
eousness. No  partial  solution,  no  divi- 
sion of  the  empire  of  the  spirit  between 
God  and  the  Devil,  was  credible  to  Rob- 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE        47 

ert  Browning.  With  him  faith  was  ab- 
solute ;  the  world  could  not  swing  clear 
of  the  divine  purpose.  To  believe  this 
in  the  face  of  appalling  contradictions 
involved  a  deeper  use  of  reason  than  as 
an  organ  of  analysis  purely;  it  involved 
an  immense  trustfulness  of  the  spirit; 
but  that  is  precisely  what  faith  is.  It 
was  the  higher  synthesis  on  which 
Browning  rested  his  conviction  that 

God's  in  his  heaven, 
All's  right  with  the  world. 

This  magnificent  conception  of  a  world 
not  shattered  and  broken,  but  moving 
on  through  lower  to  higher  orders  of 
existence,  underlies  all  Browning's  verse, 
but  finds  its  crowning  expression  in 
**  Saul  " — a  poem  which  long  ago  found 
its  place  among  those  expressions  of  the 
religious  life  which  nourish  and  inspire 
the  race.  Not  a  touch  of  pietism  ap- 
pears in  this  poem ;  not  a  hint  of  that 
blighting  kind  of  ecclesiasticism    which 


48         AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

perverts  the  worship  of  the  Infinite  into 
the  ritual  of  a  sect ;  not  a  breath  of  that 
dogmatism  which  has  made  theology 
hard  and  barren  where  it  ought  to  have 
been  rich  and  fruitful.  In  "  Saul  "  the 
thought  rises  in  successive  stages  from 
the  joy  and  beauty  of  the  physical  to  the 
last  shining  heights  of  the  spiritual; 
nothing  is  lost  of  the  fulness  and  sweet- 
ness of  man's  natural  work  and  way  in 
the  world  ;  nothing  is  surrendered  of  fair 
earth  or  fairer  spirit  to  the  empire  of 
evil.  The  world  shines  like  a  vision  of 
the  beauty  at  the  heart  of  God ;  youth 
is  glad  in  its  fresh  morning  because  it 
feels  the  pure  joy  of  living,  and  drinks 
in  the  delight  of  life;  Nature  is  fair  and 
friendly  and  hopeful;  human  relations 
and  obligations  send  the  thought  unerr- 
ingly onward  to  the  spiritual  realities 
which  they  predict ;  and  at  the  end,  in  a 
sublime  burst  of  triumphant  song,  the 
great  thought  of  redemption,  the  ineffa- 
ble face  of  the  Christ,   break  upon  the 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         49 

imagination  as  the  inevitable  fulfilment 
of  all  that  has  been  and  will  be. 

There  is  no  avoidance  of  the  presence 
of  evil  in  this  victorious  revelation  of 
the  supremacy  of  good;  but  it  was  a 
deep  artistic  instinct  which  led  the  poet 
to  give  his  thought  dramatic  instead  of 
abstract  expression.  In  this  poem,  as  in 
"A  Death  in  the  Desert,"  "  Cleon," 
and  **  The  Strange  Medical  Experience 
of  Karshish,  the  Hebrew  Physician," 
an  aspect  of  spiritual  truth  is  presented 
with  wonderful  vividness  because  v  the 
poet  takes  a  leaf  out  of  the  book  of  life. 

There  stands  the  great  king  in  his  tent 
at  midday,  with  the  blackness  of  despair 
upon  his  face;  not  a  sound  has  come 
from  him  for  the  space  of  three  days; 
no  one  dares  approach  him ;  there  is 
nothing 

To  betoken  that  Saul  and  the  Spirit  have  ended 

their  strife, 
And  that,  faint  in   his   triumph,   the   monarch 

sinks  back  upon  life. 
4 


50        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

To  the  shepherd-boy,  through  the 
mouth  of  the  faithful  Abner,  comes  the 
message  of  dire  need.  David  kneels, 
prays,  runs  to  the  king's  tent,  finds  it 
unloosed,  looks  in,  and  sees  there,  in  the 
darkness,  "  blackest  of  all,"  the  gigantic 
figure  of  Saul,  agonized,  "  drear  and 
stark,  blind  and  dumb." 

The  boy  takes  the  lilies  off  the  chords 
of  his  harp,  and  begins  gently  to  bring 
to  that  troubled  and  maddened  spirit 
the  sweet  sighs  and  sounds  of  natural, 
homely  life.  He  plays  the  tune  the 
sheep  know  as  they  come  to  the  pen 
door- 

One  after  one  seeks  its  lodging,  as  star  follows 

star 
Into  the  eve  and  the  blue  far  above  us — so  blue 

and  so  far  ! 

Then  the  strings  give  out  the  call  to 
which  the  quail  in  the  cornlands  respond, 
that  which  **  makes  the  crickets  elate," 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         51 

that  which  sets  the  jerboa  musing  out- 
side his  house ;  for 

God  made  all  the  creatures,  and  gave  them  our 

love  and  our  fear, 
To  give  sign,  we  and  they  are  his  children,  one 

family  here. 

Then  the  eager  hand  searches  among  the 
strings  for  the  song  of  the  reapers,  and  a 
deeper  note  sounds  in  the  sweet  and 
tender  song  of  life  which  enfolds  the  torn 
soul  of  the  king ;  and  in  that  deeper  music 

great  hearts  expand 
And  grow  one  in  the  sense  of  this  world's  life. 

To  these  vibrating  chords  of  the  fellow- 
ship of  toil  succeed  those  other  chords 
which  issue  out  of  the  common  sorrow 
and  myster)^  of  death.  When  that  song 
which  is  the  last  word  for  the  dead  is 
ended,  the  king  moves ;  but  his  arms  are 
still  stretched  on  the  cross-piece  of  the 
tent  in  rigid  agony. 

Then  the  strings  are  swept  again  by  a 


52        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

hand  which  knows  all  the  secrets  of  the 
life  that  runs  brimming  with  vitality, 
and  the  poet  puts  into  the  mouth  of  the 
young  singer  words  that  glow  and  burn 
with  the  joy  that  overflows  the  shallow 
channels  of  speech : 

Oh,  our  manhood's  prime  vigor  !    no  spirit  feels 

waste, 
Not  a  muscle  is  stopped  in  its  playing,  nor  sinew 

unbraced. 
Oh,  the  wild  joys  of  living  !  the  leaping   from 

rock  up  to  rock, — 
The  strong  rending  of  boughs  from  the  fir-tree, 

— the  cool  silver  shock 
Of  the  plunge  in  a  pool's  living  water, — the  hunt 

of  the  bear. 
And  the  sultriness  showing  the  lion  is  couched 

in  his  lair. 
And  the  meal — the  rich    dates,  yellowed   over 

with  gold-dust  divine. 
And  the  locust's-flesh  steeped  in  the  pitcher;  the 

full  draught  of  wine, 
And  the  sleep  in  the  dried  river-channel  where 

bulrushes  tell 
That  the  water  was    wont  to  go  warbling   so 

softly  and  well. 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         53 

How  good   is  man's  life,  the  mere  living  !    how 

fit  to  employ- 
All  the  heart  and  the  soul  and  the  senses,  for- 
ever in  joy  ! 


The  song  changes  into  another  key,  and 
still  deeper  chords  are  struck.  Saul 
hears  the  cry  of  his  people,  the  claims  of 
his  throne,  the  glory  of  his  place.  And 
once  more  the  gigantic  frame  stirs;  the 
rigor  passes,  the  tense  figure  relaxes,  the 
vacant  eyes  grow  soft — the  king  lives 
again. 

But  sounds  are  humming  in  the  har- 
per's memory  which  have  never  yet 
found  note  or  voice ;  the  tide  which  he 
has  set  in  motion  bears  him  resistlessly 
out  into  the  vast  and  untroubled  world 
of  the  future ;  for  the  spirit  of  prophecy, 
never  long  absent  from  the  poet,  is  upon 
him.  Saul  leans  over  him,  pushes  back 
his  hair,  looks  into  his  eyes;  and  the 
boy's  heart  goes  out  to  the  king  in  a 
great  passion    of    love.      And    then,   in 


54        AIDS   TO    THE    DEVOUT  LIFE 

that  happy  moment  when  love  touched 
the  imagination,  came  the  consumma- 
tion of  the  vision.  Through  ever-widen- 
ing circles  the  song  has  mounted  to  the 
highest  heaven: 

I  have  gone  the  whole  round  of  Creation :  I  saw 
and  I  spoke ! 

I,  a  work  of  God's  hand  for  that  purpose,  re- 
ceived in  my  brain 

And  pronounced  on  the  rest  of  his  handwork — 
returned  him  again 

His  creation's  approval  or  censure  :  I  spoke  as  I 
saw. 

I  report,  as  a  man  may  of  God's  work — all's 
love,  yet  all's  law. 

Through  the  imperfect  shines,  faint  and 
far,  the  perfect ;  in  the  darkness  of  the 
struggle  gleams  the  light  of  final  tri- 
umph ;  over  ruin  and  disaster  glows  the 
bow  of  promise ;  through  the  blackness 
of  sin  the  star  of  redemption  rises;  out 
of  the  darkness  and  void  a  hand  is 
stretched  and  grasped : 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         55 

He  who  did  most,  shall  bear  most ;  the  strongest 

shall  stand  the  most  weak. 
'Tis  the  weakness  in  strength  that  I  cry  for  !  my 

flesh,  that  I  seek 
In  the  Godhead  !  I  seek  and  I  find  it.    O  Saul,  it 

shall  be 
A  Face  like  my  face  that  receives  thee  :    a  Man 

like  to  me, 
Thou  shalt   love  and  be   loved  by,    forever  !  a 

Hand  like  this  hand 
Shall  throw  open  the  gates  of  new  life  to  thee  ! 

See  the  Christ  stand  ! 

A  gifted  and  ardent  woman  once  said 
that  when  everything  else  failed  her  she 
re-read  **  Saul,"  and  once  more  she 
heard  the  clear  tone  of  faith  calling 
through  the  darkness  as  the  song  of  the 
shepherd-boy  called  to  Saul  in  the  black- 
ness of  his  despair.  In  our  time  such 
voices  are  not  often  heard.  Pathetic 
tones  there  are;  notes  that  sound  the 
sadness  and  hopelessness  of  the  age; 
but  the  trumpet-peal  rarely  rises  above 
the  confusion  of  voices  and  sets  the 
pulses  beating  not  only  with  hope  but 


56        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

with  a  passion  of  faith.  Browning's 
"Saul"  has  the  resonance  and  peal  of 
such  a  trumpet ;  it  floats  back  from 
the  far  advance  line  like  a  prophecy  of 
victory. 


KEBLE'S  ''CHRISTIAN  YEAR'* 

By  Henry  van  Dyke,  D.D. 

The  power  of  poetry  to  lend  wings  to 
truth  is  finely  illustrated  in  the  history 
of  John  Keble's  "  Christian  Year." 

The  author  was  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England.  Born  in  1792  in  a 
quiet  country  vicarage  at  Fairford,  in 
Gloucestershire,  he  received  from  his 
father  not  only  an  education  in  the  class- 
ics which  prepared  him  to  take  the  high- 
est honours  at  the  university,  but  also 
the  stamp  of  a  spiritual  character,  a  tone 
of  mind,  a  temper  of  heart,  which  never 
changed  nor  faded  in  the  heat  and  glare 
of  the  world's  furnace.  It  was  a  gen- 
tle character,  devout,  reverent,  retiring, 
conservative ;  but  underneath  its  gentle- 
57 


58        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

ness    there    was    a    foundation    of    rare 
courage  and  firmness. 

At  Oxford,  whither  Keble  came  in  his 
fifteenth  year,  and  where  he  remained 
until  his  twenty-fifth  year,  he  was  a 
marked  man.  In  1810  he  took  a  double 
first  in  the  school ;  and  soon  afterwards 
he  was  elected  a  Fellow  of  Oriel  Col- 
lege. But  it  was  not  so  much  the  bril- 
liancy of  his  scholarship  or  the  power 
of  his  intellect  that  distinguished  him, 
although  these  qualities  gave  him  an 
unquestioned  place  among  the  able  men 
who  then  made  the  Oriel  Common  Room 
the  intellectual  centre  of  the  University. 
Keble's  mark  was  something  different 
and  deeper:  a  certain  simplicity  and 
serenity  of  spirit,  a  calm  and  steady  fer- 
vour of  faith,  a  profound  attachment  to 
the  beauty  of  ancient  ways,  not  for  the 
sake  of  their  antiquity,  but  for  the  sake 
of  their  reality;  a  poetic  charm  in  his 
conception  of  religion,  and  a  religious 
fragrance  in  his  devotion  to  poetry — such 


AIDS   TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 


59 


traits  as  these  were  mildly  luminous  in 
his  personality,  and  made  him,  as  Henry 
Hart  Milman  said,  "  strangely  unlike 
anyone  else."  John  Henry  Newman, 
recalling  his  early  experiences  as  an  Ox- 
ford student,  wrote:  "When  one  day 
I  was  walking  in  High  Street,  with  my 
dear  earliest  friend,  with  what  eagerness 
did  he  cry  out,  'There's  Keble ! '  and 
with  what  awe  did  I  look  at  him !  " 

Keble's  character  and  temperament, 
the  sentiments  and  convictions  which  he 
had  received  by  inheritance  and  training 
from  his  father,  made  it  impossible  for 
him  to  follow  the  movement  of  the  Early 
Oriel  School,  the  "  Noetic"  School,  as 
it  has  been  called,  in  theology.  Under 
the  leadership  of  such  men  as  Whate- 
ly  and  Copleston  and  Hampden  and 
Thomas  Arnold,  and  with  the  intel- 
lectual sympathy  of  such  men  as  Thirl- 
wall  and  Milman,  this  school  moved  in 
the  direction  of  a  more  liberal  policy  in 
the   Church,  a  closer  and  more  critical 


6o        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

study  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  light  of 
history,  a  more  rational  and  philosophic 
interpretation  of  theology.  Keble  was 
a  man  to  feel  the  inevitable  dangers  and 
defects  of  such  a  movement  far  more 
deeply  than  he  could  perceive  its  reasons, 
appreciate  its  logical  necessity,  or  antici- 
pate its  ultimate  result  of  good.  He 
felt  that  some  change  in  the  condition  of 
the  English  Church  was  needed.  He 
was  little  satisfied  with  the  mental  and 
spiritual  torpidity  which  characterized 
the  old  Tory  party  in  religion,  the  men 
who  advocated  immobility  in  the  Church 
because  they  disliked  all  motion  and 
emotion.  But  he  felt  that  the  direction 
of  the  change  should  be  backward  and 
not  forward.  The  rites  and  ceremonies 
of  the  Church  must  not  be  altered  nor 
abandoned,  but  revived.  Guidance  must 
be  sought  from  the  early  Fathers  rather 
than  from  the  Reformers.  The  power 
of  tradition,  of  authority,  must  be  in- 
voked to  solve  the  problems  of  theology, 


AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE        6i 

more  than  the  power  of  reason ;  and  the 
minds  of  men  must  be  sobered  and  sub- 
dued by  submission  to  ancient  rules  of 
faith  and  worship.  Feehng  thus,  with 
all  the  gentle  ardor  and  mild  persistency 
of  his  nature,  Keble  became,  not  by  his 
own  choice  so  much  as  by  the  force 
of  circumstances,  the  originator  of  that 
great  reaction  against  liberalism  and 
evangelicalism  which  was  known  as  the 
Oxford  or  Anglo-Catholic  movement, 
and  in  which  Newman  and  Pusey  were 
the  most  conspicuous  public  men. 

Soon  after  his  ordination  in  1816  he 
left  the  University,  and  devoted  his  life 
to  the  work  of  a  parish  minister.  For 
nearly  twenty  years  he  was  his  father's 
curate,  and  for  thirty  years  he  was  the 
Vicar  of  Hursley.  But  from  his  quie- 
tude and  seclusion  he  exercised  a  great 
and  constant  influence  upon  the  develop- 
ment and  cause  of  that  party  in  the 
Church  with  which  he  had  identified 
himself.      He  was  in  close   connection 


62         AIDS   TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

with  affairs  at  Oxford,  and  filled  at  differ- 
ent times  the  offices  of  Public  Examiner 
and  Tutor,  and  Professor  of  Poetry. 
His  sermon  before  the  University  on 
**  National  Apostasy,"  in  1833,  was  re- 
garded by  Newman  as  the  public  start 
of  the  Anglo-Catholic  movement.  He 
was  a  contributor  to  that  famous  series 
of  "  Tracts  for  the  Times  "  in  which  the 
sacramentarian  theology  of  that  move- 
ment was  defended  and  disseminated. 
And  after  Newman's  defection  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  1846,  he 
shared  with  Pusey  the  leadership  of 
Anglo-Catholicism. 

But  the  name  of  John  Keble  will  be 
best  remembered  and  loved,  not  as  the 
founder  of  a  theological  school,  not  as  a 
leader  in  ecclesiastical  conflict,  but  as  the 
true  poet  who  wrote  "  The  Christian 
Year."  And  the  truth  to  which  his 
poetry  lent  wings  was  not  the  doctrine 
of  a  party,  but  the  sweet  and  persua- 
sive verity  of    spiritual   religion.       The 


AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE        63 

conception  and  purpose  of  "  The  Chris- 
tian Year"  undoubtedly  had  a  connec- 
tion with  the  controversies  which  di- 
vided Oxford  and  the  Church  of  England 
into  warring  camps,  but  the  book  itself 
rises  out  of  the  confused  atmosphere  of 
strife  into  a  serener  region.  The  purify- 
ing, uplifting,  simplifying,  illuminating 
power  of  poetry  seems  to  reject  and 
purge  away  the  elements  of  darkness, 
of  narrowness,  of  hostility.  All  that  is 
precious  and  permanent  in  the  forms  of 
faith  and  worship  emerges  in  new  light 
and  clearer  beauty.  Poetry  not  only 
lends  wings  to  truth,  but  also  discovers 
by  a  silent  test  the  verities  which  are 
highest,  purest,  most  enduring.  It  re- 
veals to  us,  among  our  beliefs,  those 
which  are  capable  of  soaring  and  sing- 
ing. 

**  The  Christian  Year  "  was  written  at 
intervals  during  Keble's  youth,  and  pub- 
lished in  1827,  when  he  was  living  at 
Fairford    as    his    father's   curate.       The 


64        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

purpose  of  the  book,  as  explained  in  the 
preface,  was  to  bring  the  thoughts  and 
feehngs  of  its  readers  "  into  more  entire 
unison  with  those  recommended  in  the 
Prayer-Book. "  It  begins  with  two 
hymns,  one  for  morning  and  one  for 
evening;  continues  with  a  series  of  po- 
ems entitled  after  the  successive  days 
of  the  year  as  they  are  marked  in  the 
Liturgy;  and  closes  with  some  poems 
adapted  to  the  occasional  services  of 
the  Church  of  England.  This  plan  of 
composition  has  its  advantages  for  a 
manual  of  devotion  intended  for  the 
members  of  a  particular  communion. 
There  is  something  soothing,  tranquilliz- 
ing, and  attractive  in  the  very  idea  of  a 
regular  and  smoothly  modulated  musical 
accompaniment  which  follows  the  pre- 
scribed course  of  a  ritual  of  devotion 
through  the  changing  seasons  of  the 
year.  Doubtless  this  attraction  has  had 
its  influence  in  winning  readers  for  the 
book. 


AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE         65 

But  this  alone  would  not  account  for 
its  really  world-wide  acceptance,  for  its 
publication  in  more  than  a  hundred  edi- 
tions of  thousands  of  copies,  for  the 
welcome  it  has  found  with  multitudes 
of  readers  to  whom  the  English  Prayer- 
Book  is  unfamiliar.  To  many  such  read- 
ers the  plan  of  composition  must  have 
seemed  to  be  a  limitation,  a  drawback. 
Indeed,  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
all  who  look  at  the  book  from  a  poetical 
point  of  view  do  not  recognize  in  its 
formal  structure  and  arrangement  a  dis- 
advantage, a  source  of  weakness  and  un- 
evenness,  a  hindrance  to  perfection  in 
poetic  work.  The  Church  year  is  not 
the  natural  year;  the  ecclesiastical  sea- 
sons do  not  always  correspond  with  the 
seasons  of  the  earth,  or  of  the  heart ;  it 
is  not  possible  to  fit  the  variable  experi- 
ences and  feelings  of  life  into  an  unvary- 
ing series  of  Saints'  Days ;  nor  can  a 
true  subject  for  a  poem  always  be  found 
in  some  verse  or  phrase  taken  from  the 
5 


66        AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

Scripture  Lesson  appointed  for  the  day. 
The  attempt  to  make  the  Muse  observe 
the  Church  Calendar,  earnestly  and  sin- 
cerely as  Keble  strove  for  it,  was  not 
altogether  a  gain  to  his  poetry.  There 
is  a  marked  inequality  in  his  work. 
Often  his  inspiration  is  so  genuine,  so 
spontaneous,  that  it  lifts  him  to  noble 
imagination,  clear  thought,  lucid  and 
faultless  expression.  But  sometimes 
there  is  an  evident  effort  in  his  writing, 
all  the  more  disturbing  because  it  is  so 
conscientious;  his  feeling  is  clouded  by 
what  may  be  called  a  sincere  formality; 
his  metre  labours  and  limps;  his  diction 
becomes  obscure,  vague,  difficult.  Some 
of  his  verses,  in  short,  are  like  artificial 
ponds  set  in  a  landscape  garden,  whose 
waters  are  neither  deep,  nor  fresh,  nor 
clear.  But  others  are  like  small  moun- 
tain lakes,  fed  by  fountains  of  living 
water,  pure,  profound,  and  translucent  in 
all  their  luminous  depths. 

These  genuine  poems  in  "  The  Chris- 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE        67 

tian  Year  "  are  not  really  dependent  for 
their  effect  upon  their  titles  or  their  set- 
ting in  the  series.  Indeed,  I  think 
they  actually  gain  something  when  we 
see  them  apart  and  appreciate  them  for 
themselves  alone.  Read,  for  example, 
the  selections  from  Keble  which  are 
given  in  Palgrave's  "  Treasury  of  Sacred 
Song, ' '  without  titles,  or  with  new  names 
which  simply  express  their  subjects. 
They  seem  to  me  to  make  their  poetic 
and  spiritual  impression  far  more  directly 
and  deeply  than  when  they  appear  under 
such  titles  as  "  The  Twenty-fourth  Sun- 
day after  Trinity  "  or  "  The  Third  Sun- 
day after  the  Epiphany." 

The  charm  of  Keble's  best  poetry 
lies  chiefly  in  its  purity,  its  serenity,  its 
deep  transparency  of  thought  and  feel- 
ing, its  calmness  of  expression,  its  con- 
soling spirit.  His  theory  was  that  "  the 
utterance  of  high  or  tender  feeling,  con- 
trolled or  modified  by  a  certain  reserve, 
is  the  very  soul  of  poetry."      His  imag- 


68         AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

ination  is  illuminating  rather  than  crea- 
tive; in  this  he  differs  from  Henry 
Vaughan,  to  whom  in  many  things  he 
is  so  near  of  kin.  Of  fancy,  and  of  that 
striking,  inventive  power  of  expression 
which  usually  goes  with  fancy,  he  has 
little  or  nothing;  in  this  he  differs  from 
his  brother  preacher-poet,  George  Her- 
bert. In  broad,  buoyant,  vigorous  emo- 
tion, such  as  finds  an  utterance  in  the 
noblest  hymns,  wherein  we  hear  the 
sound  of  many  voices  triumphantly  prais- 
ing God,  Keble  was  deficient;  he  was 
too  reflective,  too  secluded  in  spirit,  to 
be  among  the  great  hymn-writers. 
Keble's  real  master  in  poetry — though 
he  himself  gave  the  highest  praise  and 
admiration  to  Scott  among  the  moderns 
— his  real  master  was  Wordsworth. 
That  clear  and  tranquil  vision,  that  med- 
itative look  into  the  heart  of  things 
which  Wordsworth  turned  upon  common 
life,  upon  the  characters  and  stories  of 
peasants,   upon    the   outward   shores   of 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE        69 

Nature,  Keble  turned  upon  the  services 
of  the  Church,  the  ordinances  of  relig- 
ion, the  narratives  of  the  Bible.  He 
perceived  and  revealed  in  them  the  po- 
etic meaning  and  the  soul  of  beauty. 
To  him  the  prophets  and  patriarchs  and 
apostles  were  real  men,  and  he  translated 
their  stories  into  the  language  of  per- 
sonal experience.  Take  for  illustration 
his  poems  on  Elijah,  on  the  Disobe- 
dient Prophet,  on  the  Conversion  of  St. 
Paul,  on  St.  Andrew.  Sometimes,  it 
must  be  admitted,  his  paraphrases  of  the 
Scripture  suffer  by  comparison  with  the 
simplicity  and  strength  of  the  inspired 
original.  But  often  he  casts  a  ray  into 
the  story  that  illuminates  it  with  a  new 
light.  How  exquisite  is  the  touch  with 
which  he  describes  Daniel  praying  in 
Babylon : 

His  lattice  open  towards  his  darling  west, 
Mourning  the  ruined  home  he  still  must  love  the 
best. 


70        AIDS   TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE 

How  profound  is  the  insight  with  which 
he  speaks  of 

Lazarus  wakened  from  his  four  days'  sleep, 
Enduring  life  again,  that  Passover  to  keep. 

In  the  close  observation  of  Nature 
Keble  is  not  Wordsworth's  equal,  and 
yet  the  two  poets  have  much  in  common, 
both  in  spirit  and  in  method.  Keble 
takes  notice  of  such  slight,  significant 
things  as  the  power  of  a  breath  of  cold 
air  to  kill  the  scent  of  the  violet,  of  the 
bright  thread  of  green  that  marks  the 
course  of  a  spring  trickling  down  the 
heath-clad  hill,  of  the  clear  note  of  a 
solitary  bird  ringing  through  the  hush 
that  precedes  the  thunder-storm  in  a 
summer  rioon.  How  patient  and  loving 
is  the  skill  with  which  he  paints  an  au- 
tumnal morning: 

The  morning  mist  is  cleared  away, 
Yet  still  the  face  of  heaven  is  gray. 
Nor  yet  the   autumnal  breeze   has  stirred   the 
grove  ; 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE         71 

Faded  yet  full,  a  paler  green 
Skirts  soberly  the  tranquil  scene  ; 
The  redbreast  warbles  round  this  leafy  cove. 

The  poem  entitled  "  To  a  Snow-Drop  " 
(which  is  assigned  to  Tuesday  in  Easter 
week)  is  one  that  Wordsworth  himself 
might  have  written.  The  delicacy  of 
the  opening  stanzas  is  perfect : 

Thou  first-born  of  the  year's  delight, 

Pride  of  the  dewy  glade, 
In  vernal  green  and  virgin  white 

Thy  vestal  robes  arrayed  ; 

Tis  not  for  these  I  love  thee  dear  : 

Thy  shy  averted  smiles 
To  Fancy  bode  a  joyous  year, 

One  of  Life's  fairy  isles. 

And  then  the  closing  stanzas — how  deep 
they  go,  how  they  sink  inward  to  the 
roots  of  life ! 

O  guide  us,  when  our  faithless  hearts 
From  Thee  would  start  aloof. 

Where  Patience  her  sweet  skill  imparts 
Beneath  some  cottage  roof; 


72        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

Revive  our  dying  fires,  to  burn 

High  as  her  anthems  soar, 
A7id  of  our  scholars  let  us  learn 

Our  own  forgotten  lore. 

It  is  true  that  Keble  is  more  sensitive 
to  the  sympathetic  aspect  of  Nature 
than  to  her  sublime  aspect.  He  ex- 
presses the  sense  of  her  consolations  far 
more  frequently  and  more  perfectly  than 
he  expresses  the  sense  of  awe  in  her  pres- 
ence. And  yet  there  are  some  passages 
in  which  he  rises  to  sublimity ;  for  ex- 
ample, where  he  speaks  of  God  as  mak- 
ing us  stand  like  Elijah  on  Mount  Horeb, 

to  see 
The  outskirts  of  His  7narch  of  mystery  ; 

or,   again,   in  that  noble   description   of 
the  ascension  of  Christ : 

And  homeward  to  Thy  Father's  throne, 

Still  lessening,  brightening  on  their  sight, 
Thy  shadowy  car  went  soaring  on  : 

They  tracked  Thee  up  the  abyss  of  light. 

In  the  forms  of  verse  Keble  shows  a 
decided    preference    for    those    metres 


AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE        73 

which  are  smooth,  regular,  sedate,  and 
quiet  in  their  flow.  When  he  tries  a 
quicker  and  lighter  movement,  as  in  the 
verses  for  the  Twenty-fifth  Sunday  after 
Trinity,  he  does  not  succeed  so  well. 
He  finds  his  best  expression  either  in  the 
perfect  simplicity  of  the  four-line  com- 
mon-metre stanza,  like 

Oh  !  say  not,  dream  not,  heavenly  notes 
To  childish  ears  are  vain, 

That  the  young  mind  at  random  floats 
And  cannot  reach  the  strain  ; 

or  in   the   fuller   and    more   solemn    ca- 
dences   of    one    of     those    verse-forms 
which  Wordsworth  loved  so  much,  where 
the  last   line  is   prolonged  in  lingering 
music     and     filled      with      far-reaching 
thought,   like    the    lovely  poem   on  the 
withheld  completions  of  life : 
There  are,  who  darkling  and  alone 
Would  wish  the  weary  night  were  gone. 
Though  dawning  morn  should  only  show 
The  secret  of  their  unknown  woe  ; 
Who  pray  for  sharpest  throbs  of  pain 
To  ease  them  of  doubt's  galling  chain  : 


74        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

"  Only  disperse  the  cloud,"  they  cry, 
"  And  if  our  fate  be  death,  give  light  and  let  us 
die." 

Unwise  I  deem  them,  Lord,  unmeet 
To  profit  by  Thy  chastenings  sweet, 
For  Thou  wouldst  have  us  linger  still 
Upon  the  verge  of  good  and  ill ; 
That  on  Thy  guiding  hand  unseen 
Our  undivided  heart  may  lean. 
And  thus  our  frail  and  foundering  bark 
Guide  in  the  narrow  wake  of  Thy  beloved  ark. 

Keble's  philosophy  of  life  was  very 
simple.  It  was  in  effect  a  form  of  Chris- 
tian mysticism.  Perhaps  he  would  have 
rejected  that  name.  But,  at  all  events, 
his  way  of  thinking  and  the  results  of 
his  thought  were  at  the  farthest  remove 
from  rationalism.  Newman  has  stated 
it,  with  a  slight  touch  of  the  controver- 
sial spirit  (such  as  he  often  gave),  in 
the  word  which  he  puts  into  quotation 
marks.  "  Moral  truth  is  gained  by  pa- 
tient study,  by  calm  reflection,  silently 
as   the    dew    falls — unless    miraculously 


AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE         75 

given — and  when  gained  it  is  transmitted 
by  faith  and  by  '  prejudice.'  Keble's 
book  is  full  of  such  truths  which  any 
Cambridge  man  might  refute  with  ease." 
And  what  are  these  truths  as  they  are 
expressed  in  the  poetic  language  of 
"  The  Christian  Year  "  ?  They  are  such 
truths  as  the  certainty  and  sufficiency  of 
the  divine  revelation,  the  duty  of  hu- 
mility and  submission  to  the  dealings  of 
Providence,  the  sacramental  character 
of  Nature  in  which  the  invisible  things 
of  God  are  seen  by  the  pure  in  heart, 
the  blessedness  of  obedience  to  God's 
law,  the  beauty  of  a  self-sacrificing  life, 
and  the  certainty  of  its  reward  in  heaven. 
Keble's  poetry  breathes  a  soothing,  sub- 
duing, tranquillizing  spirit.  Its  general 
effect  is  like  one  of  those  landscapes  in 
the  heart  of  England  where  peace  and 
quietness  seem  to  brood  over  the  green 
meadows,  the  rounded  hills,  the  distant 
woods,  and  the  homes  of  men,  clustered, 
as  if  for  shelter  and  security,  around  the 


76        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

gray,  ivy-mantled  tower  of  the  ancient 
house  of  God.  There  are  other  strains 
in  his  poetry,  I  admit — strains  of  re- 
buke, of  warning,  of  conflict ;  but  still 
this  is  the  general  impression — -an  im- 
pression of  tenderness,  of  calm,  of  rest- 
fulness  and  confidence — the  impression 
of  a  consoling  landscape.  And  above 
there  shines  the  unfading,  undeceiving 
light  of  a  better  world  in  which  all  the 
sorrows  and  sufferings  of  the  faithful 
shall  be  rewarded. 

If  thou  wouldst  reap  in  love, 

First  sow  in  holy  fear  ; 
So  life  a  winter's  morn  may  prove 

To  a  bright  endless  year. 

Much  of  Keble's  religious  power  comes 
from  the  intensely  personal  feeling  that 
he  has  towards  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  the 
directness  and  tenderness  with  which  he 
expresses  it.  In  this  he  is  like  some  of 
the  Latin  hymn-writers,  for  example  St. 
Bernard  of  Clairvaux,  and  like  some  of 


AIDS    TO    THE   DEVOUT  LIFE        77 

the  earlier  English  sacred  poets.  How 
profoundly  does  he  enter,  also,  into  the 
consolation  of  the  Cross  and  the  com- 
fort of  the  Atonement !  In  his  poem  on 
the  Crucifixion  he  touches  the  very  deep- 
est secret  of  the  power  which  Christian- 
ity has  had  upon  the  hearts  of  men : 

Is  it  not  strange,  the  darkest  hour 

That  ever  dawned  on  sinful  earth 
Should  touch  the  heart  with  softer  power 

For  comfort,  than  an  angel's  mirth  ? 
That  to  the  Cross  the  mourner's  eye  should  turn 
Sooner  than  where  the  stars  of  Christmas  burn  ? 

And  then  in  the  closing  stanzas  he  ut- 
ters, as  far  as  human  words  can  express 
it,  the  innermost  mystery  of  Christian 
faith : 

Lord  of  my  heart,  by  Thy  last  cry, 
Let  not  Thy  blood  on  earth  be  spent ! 

Lo,  at  Thy  feet  I  fainting  lie  ; 

Mine  eyes  upon  Thy  wounds  are  bent ; 

Upon  Thy  streaming  wounds  my  weary  eyes 

Wait  like  the  parched  earth  on  April  skies. 


78        AIDS   TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

Wash  me,  and  dry  these  bitter  tears  ; 

O  let  my  heart  no  further  roam, 
'Tis  Thine  by  cares  and  hopes  and  fears 

Long  since — O  call  Thy  wanderer  home  ; 
To  that  dear  home,  safe  in  Thy  wounded  side, 
Where  only  broken  hearts  their  sin  and  shame 
may  hide. 

The  attraction  of  the  Cross  has  always 
been  the  most  tender  and  potent  and  in- 
timate charm  of  the  religion  which  finds 
its  centre  in  the  person  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Lamb  of  God  that  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world,  the  Divine  Redeemer 
who  died  for  us  that  we  might  live  in 
Him.  This  attraction  breathes  through 
Keble's  poetry  as  a  spirit  of  sweetness 
and  light,  drawing  the  heart  as  to  a  hid- 
den place  of  rest.  Much  as  we  feel  the 
beauty  of  his  view  of  Nature,  in  which 
we  recognize  the  sympathetic  insight  and 
the  interpretative  power  of  the  true  poet ; 
quickly  and  gratefully  as  we  respond  to 
the  tenderness  and  truth  with  which  he 
speaks  of  the  human  affections,  the  ties 


AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE        79 

of  blood  and  friendship,  the  joys  of  the 
true  home  b'fe,  and  the  blessedness  of 

the  mutual  look 
When  hearts  are  of  each  other  sure, 

we  feel  that  there  is  something  still  more 
precious  in  "The  Christian  Year." 
There  is  the  music  of  a  Gospel  which 
promises  pardon  and  rest  to  all  sinful, 
weary  souls  through  the  Saviour  who 
loved  them  and  gave  himself  for  them. 
There  is  a  singing  hope  of  utter  forgive- 
ness and  perfect  peace  for  all  who  will 
lean  upon  the  finished  and  abiding  sacri- 
fice of  Christ,  who  is  the  Immortal  Love. 
Yes,  for  all,  even  for  the  weak,  the 
doubtful,  the  perplexed,  who  do  not  fully 
understand  its  meaning.  For  this  is  the 
message  that  the  spirit  of  sacred  poetry 
looses  from  Keble's  heart,  and  to  which 
it  lends  wings  to  fly  above  the  dust  and 
turmoil  of  contending  schools  and  par- 
ties in  religion.  Beati  qui  non  viderunt. 
Nothing  in   "The   Christian   Year"    is 


So        AIDS    TO    THE  DEVOUT  LIFE 

more  beautiful,  nothing  more  truly  re- 
veals the  reason  why  it  is  a  book  so 
much  beloved,  than  the  last  stanzas  of 
the  poem  on  St.  Thomas,  the  Doubter: 

Is  there  on  earth  a  spirit  frail. 

Who  fears  to  take  their  word, 
Scarce  daring,  through  the  twilight  pale, 

To  think  he  sees  the  Lord  ? 
With  eyes  too  tremblingly  awake 
To  bear  with  dimness  for  His  sake  ? 
Read  and  confess  the  Hand  Divine 
That  drew  thy  likeness  here  so  true  in  every 
line. 

For  all  thy  rankling  doubts  so  sore, 

Love  thou  thy  Saviour  still, 
Him  for  thy  Lord  and  God  adore, 

And  ever  do  His  will. 
Though  vexing  doubts  may  seem  to  last, 
Let  not  thy  soul  be  quite  o'ercast ; 
Soon  will  He  show  thee  all  His  wounds,  and 
say, 
"  Long  have  I  known  thy  name — know  thou  my 
Face  alway." 


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